Business

BERLIN — Pilots at Lufthansa are staging a fourth consecutive day of strikes against the German airline on Saturday, with chances of an immediate resolution to the pay dispute looking slim after their union rejected a new offer from the company.

The Cockpit union targeted Lufthansa's long-haul services, prompting 137 flight cancellations and affecting some 30,000 passengers. That was fewer than on previous days, when Cockpit members also hit short-haul flights.

Cockpit said that there will be no walkout Sunday and it will give at least 24 hours' notice of any further strikes next week.

Lufthansa said it expects flights to operate largely as scheduled on Sunday. However, it cautioned that there will still be a few cancellations as a result of the previous days' disruption and urged passengers to check the status of their flights online.

Cockpit is seeking retroactive raises of 3.66 per cent a year going back 5-and-a-half years. Lufthansa, which faces increasing competition from Gulf airlines and European budget carriers, says it cannot satisfy that demand.

On Friday, Lufthansa offered to increase pay by 4.4 per cent by mid-2018, and make a one-time payment equal to 1.8 monthly salaries in lieu of past raises.

It also offered to hire about 1,000 new pilots in the coming five years and seek third-party mediation on other outstanding issues.

Cockpit, however, argued that the proposal simply reiterated one made over two months ago.

DUBAI — Iran is optimistic OPEC can reach a deal on limiting oil supplies and plans to announce its own decision about any output curbs at the group's meeting next week, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on the ministry's official website SHANA.

"The proposal of Algerian Energy Minister [Nouredine Bouterfa] on the production of each country was presented today and carefully studied," Zanganeh was quoted as saying on Saturday after meeting Bouterfa in Tehran.

Bouterfa said Algeria's proposals called for 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in cuts by OPEC members and decreases totalling 600,000 bpd by non-members, SHANA reported.

"If OPEC members... agree, oil prices will reach $50 to $55 next year and $60 by the end of the year," Bouterfa was quoted as saying.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is moving closer towards finalising its first deal to limit oil output since 2008 but Iran has been a stumbling block because it wants exemptions as it tries to regain oil market share following the easing of Western sanctions in January.

"We are to present our views about this proposal at the... November 30 OPEC meeting," Zanganeh said. "The general trend and public statements suggest that OPEC can reach a viable agreement for its production and market management."

"If we can agree, and I am optimistic, [oil] prices will increase and this is also what the world economy demands."

SHANGHAI — China’s largest online travel agency Ctrip will buy British flight search app Skyscanner for $1.7 billion.

The travel service provider will pay £1.4 billion, mainly in cash, for the Edinburgh-based firm, the companies said in separate statements late Wednesday.

NASDAQ-listed Ctrip, partly owned by Chinese search giant Baidu, provides online booking for airline and railway tickets as well as hotels, and describes itself as China’s largest travel company.

It generated more than 350 billion yuan ($51 billion) in gross merchandise value last year, the firm said on its website, referring to a measure of online sales.

Gareth Williams, Skyscanner chief executive, said: “Ctrip is the clear market leader in China and a company we can learn a huge amount from.”

The acquisition took Skyscanner “one step closer to our goal of making travel search as simple as possible for travellers around the world”, he added.

Skyscanner provides similar services to Ctrip and has 60 million monthly active users, mainly in Europe.

Ctrip co-founder and Executive chairman Liang Jianzhang said: “This acquisition will strengthen long-term growth drivers for both companies. Skyscanner will complement our positioning at a global scale.”

Skyscanner will remain operationally independent with its current management team, the statements said. 

In its third-quarter results, announced Wednesday, Ctrip said it had also acquired “two large US tour operators specialised in serving Chinese travellers”, without naming them.

“The Skyscanner deal, as well as the buying of US travel agencies, is part of Ctrip’s effort to expand its overseas business,” Zhang Min, analyst with Shanghai-based consulting firm Business Connect China, told AFP. 

“Ctrip is already the leader in the domestic market in both ticket and hotel booking, so its future growth lies in overseas expansion.”

Average hotel rates were higher overseas, she added, so the deal would help improve Ctrip’s margins.

The Skyscanner purchase, already approved by boards of both firms, is still subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed by the end of 2016.

Shanghai-based Ctrip merged with another major Chinese online agency Qunar last year to create the country’s biggest Internet travel service.

The deal gave Baidu, which controlled Qunar, a 25 per cent stake in Ctrip.

Ctrip shares closed down 2.1 per cent to $40.99 on Wednesday before the announcement. 

Chinese companies have been snapping up overseas assets in the tourism sector from hotels to airlines as higher incomes send more Chinese people on outbound travel. 

Conglomerate Fosun bought French holiday company Club Med last year and was also part of a part of a consortium that acquired Canadian entertainment juggernaut Cirque du Soleil. 

It also has a stake in British-based tour operator Thomas Cook.

ISTANBUL — The Turkish central bank on Thursday announced it was hiking its main interest rate by 50 basis points, in a bid to counter a drastic fall in the value of the lira in recent months.

The monetary policy committee of the bank said the one-week repurchasing rate was being lifted to 8 per cent from 7.5 per cent, the first rate hike by the bank since January 2014.

The Turkish lira has lost over 10 per cent in value against the dollar over the last month amid doubts over Turkey's flagging growth prospects and fears the drive by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a presidential system will risk more instability.

The bank is nominally independent but its decision follows a number of high-level political meetings on the economy including talks at Erdogan's palace late on Wednesday.

The bank said exchange rate movements due to heightened global uncertainty and volatility pose "upside risks" to the inflation outlook. 

"The committee decided to implement monetary tightening to contain adverse impact of these developments on expectations and the pricing behaviour," it said explaining the decision.

Inflation in October was 7.16 per cent, still well off the bank's target of 5 per cent.

The lira reversed earlier losses to immediately recover on the rate hike news, gaining 0.74 per cent in value against the dollar on the day.

In other rate moves, the overnight borrowing rate remained intact at 7.25 per cent but the overnight marginal funding rate was raised to 8.5 per cent from 8.25 per cent, the bank said on its website.

BAGHDAD — Iraq is willing to cut its crude oil output as part of OPEC's plan to reduce global supply and boost crude prices, Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi told reporters on Wednesday in Baghdad.

"What we lose in lowering production, we will gain in oil revenues," he said. "Iraq will shoulder part of the production reduction."

Abadi's comments are the clearest indication so far that Baghdad will support an OPEC plan to cut production when it meets on November 30 in Vienna.

Earlier statements from Iraqi ministers said, on the contrary, that OPEC should exempt Iraq from output cuts, as the nation needs its oil income to fight the Daesh terror group.

OPEC agreed in September to reduce production, its first output cut since 2008, but the delicate matter of how much oil each of the 14 OPEC members should produce was not settled.

VIENNA/DUBAI — OPEC will debate an oil output cut of 4-4.5 per cent for all of its members except Libya and Nigeria next week but the deal's success hinges on an agreement from Iraq and Iran, which are far from certain to give full backing.

Three OPEC sources told Reuters a gathering of experts from the oil producer group in Vienna had decided on Tuesday to recommend that a ministerial meeting on November 30 debate a proposal from member Algeria to reduce output by that amount.

Such a cut would bring OPEC's current output down by more than 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd), according to Reuters calculations based on the group's October production, and is towards the upper end of market expectations.

But sources also said the representatives of Iran, Iraq and Indonesia had expressed reservations about their level of participation in what would be the group's first supply-limiting deal since 2008.

Brent oil futures were trading flat at around $49 per barrel, paring earlier gains of around $1 a barrel. As of (16:00 GMT), the meeting had yet to end.

In September, OPEC agreed to reduce production to between 32.5 million and 33.0 million bpd — an effort to prop up prices — from OPEC's own latest production estimates of 33.64 million bpd.

OPEC's deal faces potential setbacks from Iraq's call for it to be exempt and from Iran, which wants to increase supply as its output has been hit by sanctions.

Iraq's foreign minister said on Tuesday in Budapest that OPEC should allow Iraq to continue raising output with no restrictions.

Big bargain

Iran and Iraq raised certain conditions for participating in the deal, according to sources, who were not allowed to speak on the record because the experts were meeting behind closed doors.

Sources said Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have signalled they were prepared to cut as much as 1 million bpd of their output.

The Algerian proposal would see all member countries, except Nigeria and Libya, cutting 4-4.5 per cent from OPEC's estimates of their October production with the aim of reaching a total output target of 32.5 million bpd, OPEC sources have said.

That would mean Saudi Arabia alone could cut up to 500,000 bpd, they said.

OPEC's own estimates, based on so-called "secondary sources", are usually lower than countries' direct submissions to the organisation.

Under the Algerian proposal, Iran was asked to cut 4.5 per cent from almost 4 million bpd, according to sources. But Tehran is signalling it wants to cut from higher levels of 4.1-4.2 million bpd, one of the sources said.

Iraq was asked to cut about 200,000 bpd. Baghdad is also still debating whether it should cut from the levels of OPEC's estimates or its own, higher, production figures.

"Eighty-five per cent of proposed OPEC cuts are from Gulf countries but Iran is still not in favour," one source said.

Non-OPEC producer Russia was also still not agreeing to cut production but favouring a freeze, a senior OPEC delegate said.

"This will make it difficult for OPEC alone to rebalance the market and bring prices up," the source said.

AMMAN — A Korean delegation, which concluded a visit to the Kingdom on Monday, has had the chance to examine means to boost joint Jordanian-Korean commercial  cooperation, according to a statement of the Korea Business Centre in Amman (KOTRA).

The delegates met with representatives of several Jordanian companies, in the presence of Korea’s Ambassador to Jordan Lee Bom-yon.

The delegation from Jeonnam comprised representatives of six manufacturing and exporting companies.

The business meetings, organised by KOTRA, the Commercial Office of the Korean embassy, seek to strengthen trade cooperation between both countries.

BAGHDAD — Iraq's oil minister Jabar Ali Al Luaibi will make suggestions at a meeting of Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil ministers at the end of the month to implement an agreement to restrain crude supply in order to push up prices, according to a statement from his ministry on Monday.

The statement didn't indicate what these suggestions are but hinted that Iraq would not be contributing to any output cut.

Iraq's "legitimate demands should not constitute an obstacle to a new agreement to freeze output", Luaibi said in the statement. Iraq "will offer new thoughts and suggestions to bring the members closer to an agreement".

Luaibi last month said Iraq should be exempted from OPEC crude output restrictions as it needs the income to fight the war on the Daesh terror group, an ultra-hardline group.

Iran, Libya and Nigeria, whose output has been hit by sanctions or conflict, have also asked to be exempted.

The OPEC agreed in Algiers on September 28 to reduce production, its first output cut since 2008, but left aside the delicate task of how much each of the 14 members will produce.

TUNIS — The Libyan dinar has dipped to new lows on the parallel exchange market, despite a pledge from the UN -backed government and the central bank to protect its value and tackle urgent economic challenges.

One black-market currency trader told Reuters that $1 was buying more than 6.5 dinars in Tripoli on Monday, having passed 6 dinars for the first time in recent days. The official rate is 1.4 dinars to the dollar.

The widening black-market premium is seen as a sign of the erosion of confidence in the Government of National Accord (GNA), which has struggled to make an impact since arriving in Tripoli in March.

Power brokers in Libya's east have withheld their support from the GNA while frustration in the west has built over the government's inability to deal with chronic insecurity, collapsing public services, steep inflation and a liquidity crisis.

The government is struggling to overcome five years of turmoil since the overthrow of former leader Muammar Qadhafi in 2011 led to competing power bases and allowed militants to take over pockets of the country.

Some ministers have not taken up their posts and the GNA's leadership, or Presidential Council, has been at loggerheads with the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) over the disbursement of public funds and economic policy.

At a meeting in Rome last week, the council set itself a deadline of December 1 to decide on a package of decisions to address the economic crisis, with the council and central bank pledging to "continue to co-operate on steps to support the Libyan dinar".

The CBL agreed late last month to make 8.6 billion dinars ($6 billion) available to the council, and the Rome meeting was attended by a newly named deputy finance minister who is meant to smooth the release of funding. The council is expected to agree an emergency budget for 2017 within a month.

But the mechanics and approval of expenditure have been hard to negotiate, and the CBL and the council remain split over devaluing the dinar and cutting subsidies to reduce Libya's deficit, according to diplomats briefed on discussions.

"There's full recognition that devaluation is a necessary step on the way to economic recovery," said one Western diplomat. "There are two questions, one is timing and the second is who's going to take the rap."

Further complicating the situation are splits within the council, whose nine members were selected in an attempt to unite factions that had backed rival governments in Tripoli and the east since 2014.

Those associated with factions based in eastern Libya have criticised recent international efforts to mediate the crisis and Fathi Al Majbari, the council member who has held the financial brief, refused to take part in the Rome gathering or a previous meeting in London.

OPEC member Libya is highly dependent on oil sales, but reduced output and falling prices have slashed revenues to a fraction of former levels. Oil production has recently doubled to about 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), but remains well below a high of 1.6 million bpd.

The country remains beset by insecurity, including in Tripoli, where rival militias that have retained power on the ground have been involved in fresh skirmishes since Friday.

LONDON — Facebook on Monday became the latest US tech giant to announce new investment in Britain with hundreds of extra jobs but hinted its success depended on skilled migration after Britain leaves the European Union.

The premier social network underlined London's status as a global technology hub at a British company bosses' summit where Prime Minister Theresa May sought to allay business concerns about Brexit.

"London is absolutely a global hub for technology," Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook's vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa told the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference.

Mendelsohn said Facebook would open its new headquarters in the British capital next year, taking its UK workforce to 1,500 from around 1,000 now.

"It's a place where, frankly, our engineers want to come and work," she said, stressing that the company had staff from 65 nationalities working in London.

"The movement of talent is something that obviously matters to us," she said, although she added it was "too early to say" what effect Brexit could have.

Facebook's announcement comes one week after Google confirmed it would expand its vast London campus in a move that could bring 3,000 more jobs to the city.

Apple earlier this year also said it would create a new London headquarters in the iconic and long-abandoned Battersea Power Station in 2021.

May hailed the investments in her speech to the CBI saying she wanted Britain to be "the global go-to place for scientists, innovators and tech investors”.

She also promised extra funds for research and development, as well as aiming for an "early agreement" on the status of EU nationals working in Britain after Brexit — a key concern for businesses.

'Envy of Europe' 

London Mayor Sadiq Khan welcomed Facebook's announcement as "further evidence that London's strength as a tech hub keeps on growing".

"The capital's vibrant tech scene is the envy of Europe and Facebook's continuing commitment is another sign that London is open to talent, innovation and entrepreneurship from all four corners of the world."

Facebook last month unveiled an intra-office network called "Workplace" — its first launch outside the US and a product developed entirely in Britain.

Last Tuesday, Google revealed it will add a new office building to a complex currently under development behind London's King's Cross Railway Station.

A total of 7,000 Google staff will eventually be working at the hub, which is set to open in 2018.

Google's Chief Executive Sundar Pichai told the BBC he would "worry" if controls on skilled migration were made more stringent following Brexit.

He said London was a place "where people are willing to come from anywhere in the world.

"Increasingly, for the kinds of complex things we do, we need to bring people who are across many disciplines — with many different backgrounds — together to solve problems," he said.

A report earlier this month by Nesta, a British innovation charity, and the European Digital Forum found London was the best city in Europe for digital start-ups, with Stockholm coming in a close second.

The European Digital City Index analysed the 28 EU capitals, weighting cities on scores including business environment and digital infrastructure.

"Government must continue to invest in digital skills and digital infrastructure as well as addressing the cost of office space," said Chris Haley, Nesta's head of start-up and new technology research.

Of course, it also remains to be seen how a “hard Brexit” will have an impact on the UK's business allure for digital start-ups, given that access to markets is also hugely important, he said.

European leaders have warned Britain that its plans to restrict migration from the European Union while maintaining access to European markets for British companies are incompatible and have warned this will lead to a "hard Brexit".